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The novel Landnahme by Christoph Hein was published in 2004 by the German publishing house Suhrkamp Verlag.

Hein tells the story of the Silesian migrant Bernhard Haber from five different point of views (multiperspectivity). These five first-person narrators each claim their own linguistic and characteristic authenticity as well as a unique life story. Beginning shortly after World War II, the novel continues until after the German reunification.

Plot

The story focuses on Bernhard Haber who is forcibly resettled from Lower Silesia to Saxony in 1950 as a result of the second World War. Despite all the challenges he faces in his new home town Bad Guldenberg, he is able to integrate into the community.

Haber has to face a lot of challenges: hostility against the Silesian migrants, the death of his beloved dog Tinz, the presumed suicide of his father that turns out to be a murder committed by a citizen of their new home Guldenberg among other trials and tribulations. Nevertheless, Haber becomes one of the most influential citizens in the small town; a reason for that could be his wilfulness.

A major topic of the novel is the official East German prohibition on talking about the German past of Silesia and the banishment in 1945/46, that had to be referred to as a relocation instead.

The five narrators

• Thomas Nicolas

Thomas Nicolas is a schoolmate of Bernhard Haber and depicts an essential time of Bernhard's time in school. He describes the arrival of the Haber family, Bernhard’s introduction to school, the death of Bernhard's dog Tinz and the formation of the family’s business that gets disrupted several times and finally completely prevented by different inconveniences like the fire at Bernhard's father's carpentery.

In that section, the way the dispossessed are treated in the small town of Guldenberg becomes very clear.

Thomas Nicolas’ narrative style is quite plain. Even though he is rather disapproving of Bernhard at the beginning of his narration, he makes an effort to stay in touch with him towards the end of his narration.

• Marion Demutz

Marion Demutz is the first girlfriend of the protagonist Bernhard Haber. In addition to some political background, she describes her relationship with Bernhard and the type of boyfriend he is. Furthermore, she recounts his political actions, which in the course of the novel turn out to be his revenge against the community of Guldenberg.

Marion herself is rather naïve and very focused on her appearance and getting approval from her fellow human beings. She often lies to herself and is more materialistically oriented.

• Peter Koller

Peter Koller, a classmate of Bernhard Haber, is the narrator of the novel’s middle part, which also is the longest part.

Proceeding from his schooldays with Bernhard, he describes the shady business deals Bernhard starts pursuing after school. Peter is obsessed with money, resulting in a willingness to take great risks. He tries to get involved in Bernhard’s business but is unsuccessful and ends up being sentenced to five and a half years in prison after attempting to smuggle some refugees out of the GDR.
Peter is very well-meaning and sometimes even seems naïve. He always strives to be materially and socially secure. Ultimately, his character shows the problems that can arise if someone has a lot of goodwill but doesn’t see through what they’re getting themselves into.

• Katharina Hollenbach

Katharina Hollenbach is Bernhard's sister-in-law. She describes the development of her sister Rieke's relationship with Bernhard.However, Katharina also seduces Bernhard in order to blackmail him later.

Katharina is hypocritical and makes uses of blackmail. She sometimes reacts enviously to her sister's material and family wealth.

• Sigurd Kitzerow

Sigurd Kitzerow is a business partner and friend of Bernhard Haber, though he does not completely act as a friend. He describes Bernhard Haber's start-up and thus the development of Bernhard's business and financial situation, on which he himself is dependent at the end of the narrative. However, he becomes a pivotal figure, as he helps Bernhard to get into the local community's skittles club. This club represents a small economic cartel of self-employed people in the village and is therefore crucial to Bernhard's success in business.

Sigurd Kitzerow is a relatively neutral narrator. Being a doer and strategist, he has a fundamental influence on Bernhard.

Interpretative approaches

The novel shows the difficulties of integrating into society. In addition to that, it depicts the probblems of the individual with society and shows how "the foreign" is treated by individuals and groups of people. The frame narrative is about a carnival and can be seen as a parody of German reunification.

Furthermore, the novel demonstrates the so-called "fünfte Grundrechenart" (fifth basic arithmetic operation), a term introduced by the author himself: At first, one draws a line and writes the required as well as desired result beneath it. This serves as a firm basis for the following, more reckless operations, which are put above the line.

Editions

• Christoph Hein: Landnahme. Roman. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main (= suhrkamp taschenbücher. Band 3729).

References

• Fabian Thomas: Neue Leben, neues Schreiben? Die „Wende“ 1989/90 bei Jana Hensel, Ingo Schulze und Christoph Hein, Martin Meidenbauer Verlag, München 2009, ISBN 978-3-89975-948-8 (vergleichende Untersuchung von Landnahme)